Meat block scrubber



Feb. 16, 1954 J. M. DOBROWOLSKI MEAT BLOCK SCRUBBER Filed Jan. 5, 1949 Patented Feb. 16 1954 UNITED s mres A PATEN T OFFICE IMEATJ'BLOCK SIGRUBBER "Jos'eiihM. Dlohizowolski' chicago, Ill.

Amilioaitionfllanuary 5, 1949-, Serial No. 69,276

. l claimsa Thistinvention: relates to: a machine don-scrap mg; scrubbing or pdlishingsubStantieilly:fiat surfaces and "has nforr an object the. provision -:.of an amimproved 1 device ofrrthat, character.

' :Accordin'gato.thisrinventiomia serieszof brushes ar drivensby anxelectric#motor and'aa system-f gears which causei rotationtof adjacentibrusheszin: opposite: directions.

@111 the preferred storm of: 'this :invention ithe brushes a'readivided. into two? groups, .th'e= brushes oil the: individual groups being-:3 geared'itogetner in series relationship, :andra. centraligear meoh ani'sms drives one brush: 0f eachggroup. :Rotation of. iadj acent brushes: inis'opposit :directions substantially: eliminates walking 01: the. -;deviceacross-the"- surfacezbeingztreated.

:An:apron?circumierentially surrounds the entire' brush f assembly candiissarranged toessupport resiliently the remainderrof' theaievice abovethe level of any fiat surface upon which 6118134313011:

may rest. :Howeveneaslightzdownward .nressure hy theoperator williicausevtheibrushes to come into contact with the surface. This (feature-meducesthe: danger of damage-to a -.-surface -being treated in the event that the operator inadvert ently leaves the machine: running? unattended.

Accordingly, another 1' object of 'thisdnvention; is to provide Fan/improved scraper or ipolisherwhich will? notten d -to f walki :acrosswtheisurface being treated.

Another: object of '.-this invention; is to providean improvediscraper or polisher whichmayisa'fely bea-llowedito rest on:arsurfaceheing treate wwhen its= motor is running, withoutrdanger: ofcoontactof the-brushes withthat surface Another object ofrthis-inventioniisttorprovide ar scraper or polisher. of: economicaBandi-durahle construction whileirat' thez-samertimerzhavingathe:

advantages.mentionedabove.

claims.

the drawing: Eig. his. amelevational iview, partiallyrinzcmss section, of: a scraper constructedmaaccordance with this invention'g and Fig- 2 iSfiLbOttOIiIrViBWJOf the scraper-shownin:

Fig. 1.

-A motor- I L is supported 0111-81 housing 12,- havingrapainor handles. 1 3: iorconvenient manipulatiomotttheideviceir-uA semes'offsixrbrushesr-ikare.

located ratcthesbottomQfi-iaha mwm with; their; portionsentendsdownwardlyibeymutthe nlanetci irection-v of rotation-oi adjacent brushes substan tially reduces or eliminates tithe tendencymfit-he. scraper to walk or 1 move under-.iits rowmpoveer across vthei'surfaee beingitreated.

Connected to the motor shaft [8* is a speed reduction gear mechanism including gears'ItQ, 20, 2| and ,22 each gear being-mounted 1 in bearings rigidly fixedntoi housing. L2. i-Thercentrally located gear '22 andg'ear 23 which is directly-connected thereto, are thereby (driven at rasspeedsubstantially lower than that. at the motor shaftltfla. Gear 23' drives one Ibru'sh of each. gronpsthrough tthc. corresponding' brush gear l1 .and.id1er gears. and, since theithree'ibrushes ofmeachgmhpfare geared together, all brushes. areudrivenhby gear 23 and motor I I.

'It will be noted" by observationflofff-Figlj .thatin the particular embodiment shown thelendbrush of one group rotates in the same direction iasslthe adjacent endxbrush of the other group. 7 'glfests have shown" that thisiactor does not,result i n any substantial walking tendency otthedevica. However, if. it is. desired to cause afil'acentbrushes. throughoutthe machine to rotate in oppo'site.;directions; this can be'accomplished throu hseveral obvious equivalents of the embodiment illustrated; For example; an even number'ofbrushes canbe'provi-ded in eachgroup;two groflps-offour brushes each or three'groupsof tWo'bru'shes-each, with idler g-ears connecti-ng' gear'2'3 with *corresponding 'hrushes of each group also; in the embodiment' show-n, one idler" gear it-can *be'rjelocated to drive the central 7 brush of" one "group. These arrangements will result in rotation ai edjacent'brushescin opposite directions throughout the-machine.

.Atsubstantially rigid apron 25: extends circumferenti'ally around the entire: :b-rush v assembly. The: upper portion "2 Bwof. apronc2 521$ resiliently connected: to; housing- Hathrough springs: 21., and sliding:.pinsrfla andnthe;lowerendwfithe apron tenminatesninzarrollediportionx29.; .sfllhise'rolled the working faces of the brushes when spring 21 are in their extended condition.

Springs 21 are of sufficient strength to support the entire weight of the scraper and, therefore, when the scraper is resting on a surface the rolled portion at of apron 25 will be the only portion of the scraper to touch the surface. However, a light downward. pressure on handles 53 by the operator will overcome springs 21 and will cause brushes It to come into contact with the surface and polish or scape that surface, depending on the nature of the brushes used.

Connected to the inner surface of apron 25 is an annular cup member 39 arranged to hold the material scraped from the surface being treated. A relatively high speed is intended for brushes It, a speed for example of 1000 R. P. M. As a result of this high speed, particles scraped from the surface being treated will be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force and will lodge in cup member 30. The accumulated particles may, of course, be emptied as desired, merely by tipping the device.

It has been found that this device is particularly well adapted for scraping butcher blocks, and for such use wire brushes are recommended. However, the device is also well adapted to the polishing of floors and other flat surfaces. In such applications a relatively soft brush should, of course, be used.

While a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown, it will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited thereto since many modifications may be made, and it is, there fore, contemplated to cover by the appended claims any such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. In a butcher block scrubber a plurality of rotatable brushes having their working faces lying substantially in a single plane, means for rotating said brushes about axes perpendicular to said plane, means for resiliently supporting said working faces of said brushes above the surface of a butcher block, said last mentioned means comprising a rigid and substantially cylindrical skirt member encircling said brushes and normally extending axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said skirt member being imperforate along its sides thereby to retain debris thrown against its interior, and spring means urging said skirt member axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said spring means being of such stiffness as to maintain the working surfaces of said brushes above the lip of said skirt member when said scrubber rests upon a horizon tal surface.

2. In a butcher block scrubber a plurality of rotatable brushes having their working faces lying substantially in a single plane, means for rotating said brushes about axes perpendicular to said plane, means for resiliently supporting said working faces of said brushes above the surface of a butcher block, said last mentioned means comprising a rigid and substantially cylindrical skirt member encircling said brushes and normally extending axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said skirt member being imperforate along its sides thereby to retain debris thrown against its interior, and spring means urging said skirt member axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said spring means being of such stiffness as to maintain the working surfaces of said brushes above the lip of said skirt member when said scrubber rests upon a horizontal surface, said skirt member having an inwardly and upwardly turned ledge disposed at the lip of said skirt member and extending substantially completely around the inner surface thereof thereby forming a trough for receiving such debris removed from the surface of a butcher block by said brushes.

3. In a butcher block scrubber, a frame, a plurality of rotatable brushes supported by said frame and having working faces lying substantially in a single plane, means for rotating said brushes about axes perpendicular to said plane, means for resiliently supporting said working faces of said brushes above the surface of a butcher block, said last mentioned means comprising a rigid and substantially cylindrical first skirt member attached to said frame, said first skirt member having a side portion encircling said brushes and normally extending axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said side portion being imperforate thereby to retain debris thrown against its interior, said first skirt having an upper portion lying above said working faces of said brushes, spring means bearing against said upper portion thereby urging said skirt member axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said spring means being of such stiffness as to maintain said working surfaces of said brushes above the lip of said skirt member when said scrubber rests upon a horizontal surface, and a second substantially cylindrical skirt member attached to said frame, said second skirt member having an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of said first skirt member and being disposed to surround said first skirt member when said working faces of said brushes are moved into contact with a butcher block, thereby to guide the movements of said first skirt member.

4. In a butcher block scrubber, a frame, a plurality of rotatable brushes supported by said frame and having working faces lying substantially in a single plane, means for rotating said brushes about axes perpendicular to said plane, means for resiliently supporting said Working faces of said brushes above the surface of a butcher block, said last mentioned means comprising a rigid and substantially cylindrical first skirt member attached to said frame, said skirt member having a side portion encircling said brushes and normally extending axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said side portion being imperforate thereby to retain debris thrown against its interior, said first skirt including an inwardly extending and upwardly turned ledge disposed at the lip of said side portion and extending substantially completely around the inner surface thereof thereby to form a trough for receiving such debris, said first skirt having an upper portion lying above said working faces of said brushes, spring means bearing against said upper portion thereby urging said skirt member axially beyond said working faces of said brushes, said spring means being of such stiffness as to maintain said working surfaces of said brushes above the lip of said skirt member when said scrubber rests upon a horizontal surface, and a second substantially cylindrical skirt member attached to said frame, said second skirt member having an inside diameter slightly larger than the outside diameter of said first skirt member and being disposed to surround said first skirt member when said working faces of said brushes are moved into Contact with a butcher block,

2; thereby to guide the movements of said first skirt Number member. 1,643,882 JOSEPH M. DOBROWOLSKI. 1,707,575 2,119,386 References Cited in the file of this patent 5 2,334 453 UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,552,471

Number Name Date Beck Aug. 27, Number 977,701 Broberg Dec. 6, 1910 o 9653 1,000,696 Schlueter Aug. 15, 1911 473,333 1,532,289 Weinbrenner Apr. 7, 1925 553,461 1,559,479 Ushatch Oct. 27, 1925 I 34 215 1,581,824 Amsel Apr. 20, 1926 729 653 Name Date Faiver Sept. 27, 1927 Schooling Apr. 2, 1929 Holm-Hansen May 31, 1938 Dubay Sept. 11, 1945 Watkins May 8, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Apr. 18, 1914 Germany Apr. 28, 1928 Germany Sept. 7, 1932 Germany Aug. 20, 1936 France May 2, 1932 

